standard. If I want to transact in NateCoin, you want to transact in Bitcoin, and our mutual friend will only accept Dogecoin, none of us are getting any business done and we all lose the game.[*14] Focal points also help to explain the art world—they’re why an Andy Warhol silkscreen of Marilyn Monroe can sell for $195 million even as there are many starving artists who would be thrilled to sell their work for $1,950. The art world is “an envy-based economy,” as New York magazine art critic Jerry Saltz described it to me. “In my world, ninety-nine point nine percent of us are struggling. And
...more
